Rivets are installed for a variety of purposes in order to join two or more workpieces. For example, rivets are commonly utilized in order to join various workpieces during the fabrication of a vehicle, such as an air vehicle, a marine vehicle, an automobile or the like. As another example, rivets are frequently utilized to join various workpieces during the construction of buildings, overpasses, bridges or other types of structures.
During installation, a rivet is generally placed in a bore has been defined through the workpieces to be joined. The rivet typically includes a shank that extends from a head on a first side of the workpieces to an opposed tail that is positioned within the bore or proximate a second side of the workpieces, opposite the first side. A bucking bar may also be positioned on the second side of the workpieces in alignment with the bore defined by the workpieces. In order to complete the installation of the rivet, the rivet may be driven through the bore, such as by a rivet gun that utilizes compressed air in order to apply an impact force to the head of the rivet. The impact force applied to the head of the rivet drives the rivet through the bore such that the tail of the rivet contacts the bucking bar and is deformed to form, for example, a rivet button. The resulting rivet therefore joins the workpieces, which are securely held between the head of the rivet and the rivet button defined by the deformed tail of the rivet.
Rivet guns that utilize compressed air to generate the impact force upon the head of the rivet are generally relatively loud as a result of the repeated escape of the compressed air from the rivet gun and the typical hammering noise of metallic parts. Additionally, a rivet gun that relies upon compressed air to supply the impact force to the head of the rivet may experience vibrations, thereby creating challenges for the operator from an ergonomic perspective. Additionally, the impact force that is generated as a result of the compressed air may sometimes be somewhat difficult to control which may, in turn, impact the installation of the rivets, particularly as differently sized rivets are installed that could benefit from the application of different amounts of impact force.